Aliens among us

Immigration is a big issue and several things are forcing me to rethink my position on it. One very obvious reason for this self-examination is that I have to teach about it every Monday night. I ask myself then to what extent my own position is based on "nativism," racial/ethnic stereotypes and other related attitudes pervasive throughout US immigration history. Is this so much a part of our cultural heritage that we do not realize what it is that really drives these attitudes? Of course I am not racist, but what do my actions and attitudes say? Another reason is exposure over the past several weeks to Christian attitudes toward immigration and immigrants that I find unsettling. What, then, is a biblical attitude toward immigration? I don't have an answer, but this is what a cursory look at my Bible tells me about God's people and the aliens in their midst.
1. "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)
2. "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do." (Deuteronomy 14:28-29).
3. "At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts. And this is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD's remission has been proclaimed. From a foreigner you may exact it, but your hand shall release whatever of yours is with your brother." (Deuteronomy 15:1-3)
4. "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and female servant may rest as well as you." (Deuteronomy 5:12-14)
5. "You shall not east anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat of it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 14:21)
6. "Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the LORD your God blesses you; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name." (Deuteronomy 16:10-11)
7. "You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your countrymen or one of your aliens who is in your land in your towns. You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he may not cry against you to the LORD and it become sin in you." (Deuteronomy 24:14-15)
8. "You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan, nor take a widow's garment in pledge. But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing." (Deuteronomy 24:17-18)
9. "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the LORD may bless you in all the work of your hands." (Deuteronomy 24:19)
10. "Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, in order that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law." (Deuteronomy 31:12)
11. "When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19:33-34)
These are eleven passages that instruct the Israelites in how to behave toward strangers, foreigners and aliens (what the distinction is among them I make no attempt to define). They were living in a specific "blood" nation with a theocratic government and these were their laws. How these apply to us now is where I don't have the answers. There is no passage that I have found that discusses such a concept as illegal immigration, so how we differentiate between the legal and illegal aliens today falls within a complex framework of attitudes about the role of government and our relationship to it as well as the principles of how to treat aliens. I don't have an answer. I think there are some specific issues that the Bible does speak to, such as how we should approach paying taxes to provide for the needs of aliens - the tithe to feed the alien, orphan, widow and Levite was, as we might do well to remember, "in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do." Is our approach to immigration more in line with American tradition or with biblical precedent? It is a hard question, and I can't answer it.

The day came and the day went

I smiled and I cried. I felt love and I felt pain. On the day measuring the gift of life I faced the reality of death. It started with a phone call that I thought would bring birthday greetings - after all, my parents never call me in the morning. But I was wrong. The phone call wasn't about my birthday at all. The phone call was about the failing health of a loved one, saying, "Call while you still can," and I cried. I received a package in the mail that I was not expecting, a birthday present from a friend from home, and I smiled. I even had a chance to start a conversation (didn't get to finish it yet) with a friend about what the Bible says about Jesus. It was a beautiful day and God was everywhere present in it, carrying my burdens, sending me encouragement and opening doors.
Verse of the day: "You shall be blameless* before the LORD your God." ~ Deuteronomy 18:13 (that's a command!)
*complete, perfect; or, having integrity

Church discipline & the OT

I read what God commands the Israelites to do when there is someone in their midst who sins (fornication, "stubborn and rebellious" children, adultery, worshipping another god, etc.) and I am glad that I live under the New Covenant. In most American churches you might get a slap on the hand for what would have cost you your life in ancient Israel. However, I think the general call for tolerance within the church body today is a sorry, pathetic and extremely unbiblical trend. All God is asking us to do now is to confront, attempt restoration and, if necessary, remove the offending party from the fellowship of the church. These measures are for those living a lifestyle of sin, and not for the one time occurrence as required in the OT. But I think the lesson is clear: God takes sin seriously. We are surrounded by sin in the secular world, we shouldn't be surrounded by it in our churches as well. The church is no place to tolerate sinful habits in believers. Doing so gives others the idea that sin is no big deal, and that, my friends, IS a big deal. Christ saved us from slavery to sin that we might not sin, so why do we cheapen His work on the cross by tolerating sin in the church? Thankfully not all churches have given in to the modern tolerance fad, and I am grateful for the churches (all three!) I have attended throughout my life and their commitment to fostering holiness in their people. If I fall, which I pray I do not, please don't kill me, though!

I would never have that attitude, or do I have it too often?

God has been teaching me a lot, and I mean a LOT, in the past few days. Special thanks to those who are praying for me - I can tell, and it is making a difference. I read a book this afternoon that really got me thinking and convicted me in a number of areas in my life (no, this was not a school assignment - class was cancelled this afternoon and I decided to use that time to read something that I wanted to read). There are two things that really stuck out to me. The first is something that my pride has been keeping me from seeing for far too long: I treat God like He is the servant and I am the master, completely reversing the reality of things. I asked God for something, submitted it to His will, then was rather disappointed when He didn't give me what I asked for the next day. I assumed the role of servant in prayer, but when I didn't get immediate results I put myself back in the master role by my attitude. The second is also something that my pride keeps me from seeing. I read the following sentence and thought how silly such a statement is and then realized that my own life tends to reflect exactly that sentiment: "What if I give my life to God and He completely wrecks it?" Perhaps this goes a bit beyond my own attitude, but how often to I wonder if God is going to foil all of my dreams? If I surrender to Him will I be doomed to live a single life forever? Will I end up in some job that I don't think I'd like? Examining this attitude I can see how very foolish I am. God doesn't need my permission to do anything in my life! How much better it is to willingly submit to His will for my life than to worry about what He might do in His perfect plan for me! Let me trade that anxiety for His perfect peace that comes through trusting Him. I am glad that He has me in a place right now where I don't know what I am going to do in the near future. I don't know, so I started talking more to the One who does, and talking to Him is always a good idea!

Cling to Him

"You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."
~ Deuteronomy 13:4

God of gods and Lord of lords

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires you to fear him, to live according to his will, to love and worship him with all your heart and soul, and to obey the LORD's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good. The highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God. Yet the LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above every other nation, as is evident today. Therefore, cleanse your sinful hearts and stop being stubborn.
"The LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribes. He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. You, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen."
~Deuteronomy 10:12-21

Do what is right and good!

"You should diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you..." ~ Deuteronomy 6:17-18a

I am (in case you hadn't noticed) reading in Deuteronomy these days and a few things struck me about the way in which the law was given to the Israelites. 1. The LORD your God - personal, distinct, powerful - this is how God refers to Himself when addressing the Israelites, saying "your God" over and over again. This is not just any god, this is the LORD your God! 2. God commands obedience, but He gives reasons, both in the way of reminders of how He has been faithful in the past and what the rewards or punishments will be in the future. 3. In this particular verse the Israelites were exhorted to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD. It puts me in mind of Joshua 1:8: "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." Diligently keep the commandments and be careful to do according to all that is written in the book of the law. God is calling us to an active, intentional obedience founded on an ever increasing knowledge of His word. How terribly convicting this is!

There is no other!

"Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other."
~Deuteronomy 4:39

Today is the day to trust in God

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." I feel like this is the story of my life right now. I had great plans that now seem completely undesirable. Once again I find myself at one of life's crossroads, wondering which direction to turn. I have an application pending with the Education department at school for the MAT program. Today I mailed a cover letter and résumé to begin the application process for a full time job. I have scholarship applications sitting on my desk. I feel like my future is a muddled mass of confusion! I want a greater degree of financial security and to decrease (instead of increase) my debt. I want to teach. I want a job that I can leave at work at the end of the day. I don't know what I want more right now, but I do know that I want to be in the right place. Today the right place for me is on my knees. I cannot see what tomorrow will bring, but God knows. He has a plan for me. The plans I conceive in my own wisdom change day by day, but His plan is perfect. He has prepared good works for me to do and I trust that He will put me on the right path. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!

How to think intelligently

I ran across a wonderful little quote today while watching the "Reader's Guide" featurette on Middlemarch (one of BBC's film adaptations of classic novels). I was hoping that they would say something about Mr. Casaubon's will, since it was a conditional will that took away his widow's inheritance should she later remarry. I plan to use his will as an introduction to the paper I am writing about the economic conditions of widows in early American history. (Yes, I know that the novel is British, but it works anyway, since most early American inheritance laws and practices came from British tradition.) They, to my great disappointment, made no mention of the will, but the very first words of the featurette made it worth my time anyway:
"The pleasure of sitting at one's desk reading Middlemarch is the pleasure of following through intelligent thought and seeing that there is no distinction worth making between intelligent thought and moral thought. To think morally is to think intelligently." (Howard Jacobson, Novelist)
"To think morally is to think intelligently." To think morally, my friends, is how to think intelligently! I think this is a somewhat countercultural idea... I love it!

Growing up with sisters (and being the baby)

I have two older sisters, Nikki, on the left, and Erin, on the right (I guess that means I'm the short one in the middle). Nikki is 5 years older than Erin and Erin is only 17 months older than I am, so I grew up as one of the girls in "Nikki and the girls." That wasn't all bad, however. I was a very quiet and shy child (I really was, honest-to-goodness, VERY quiet and shy), so having a built-in friend was good for me, and since Erin never was quiet or shy I got involved in some things just because you can't leave out the little sister every time. I have to say one huge perk of being the baby was birthday time. My sisters' birthdays fall 5 days apart on the calendar, so the family inevitably celebrated both together. Mentality of the adults (or at least the grandparents): Angie is too young to understand why her sisters are getting presents and she is not. Yes, I got presents for my sisters' birthdays. No, they did not get presents for mine. This is, I assure you, one of the rare cases where the baby got "spoiled" growing up. (I make no attempt to deny the fact that I was spoiled when I was the last one living at home, but that's not the point here.) I was too close to my sister's age to be spoiled effectively. Being the baby did make my experience growing up different from my oldest sister's experience, certainly. For instance, my mom made my sister practice the piano for years, fighting tooth and nail the whole way. By the time I took lessons she let me quit when I said I wanted to, about a year or so into the lessons. Her attempt to stop me was, "You'll regret this in the future." (Like a 9-year-old cares about future regret!) Naturally I ignored my mother's advice, and, naturally, I regret quitting piano lessons. I do have some very fond memories of growing up with sisters. Two things I remember particularly well are the burping contests (Erin could out-burp us any day of the week, although I think the ability each of us have for burping on command made my parents think they would never marry us off - 2 out of 3 ain't bad...) and the wild horseplay (we liked to occasionally wrestle each other off of the couch - we got so loud and rowdy once that our neighbor came over to make sure everything was alright). Those were great times! All in all we were not perfect angels as children, but I am glad I grew up with my sisters.

Is it really necessary?

I just made cookies. I forgot the salt. They came out just fine anyway, which leads me to ask just how necessary that 1/4 teaspoon of salt really is. Hey, I prefer to look at them as low-sodium cookies. They are healthier that way, right?

For those of you wondering, my MAT application was forwarded to the education department today and most departments notify applicants by early April, so we could know relatively soon. In the meantime I am ever so tempted to play that dangerous game: the What-If game...

Impatience

I am impatient right now. Impatient for Spring to come and the weather to warm up. Impatient for my lease to end so I can move and then finally get everything transferred from CA to NY. Impatient for my birthday to come. Impatient for the answer to my MAT application. That's the big one. I submitted the final bits of the application portfolio yesterday. The deadline is in a week but I don't know how long they take to get back to the applicants. PLEASE accept me! Graduate Admissions office staff, PLEASE process my application and forward it to the department so they can consider my application!

I have also been somewhat impatient (and quite unfairly so) with Robby, my birthday present to myself. I bought a Roomba. He's a robotic vacuum cleaner. It's great! I press a button on a remote and he cleans my floors. We just met this morning, but I think Robby and I are going to have a wonderful relationship.

The last major point of impatience for me is clearing the incomplete from last semester. I have had this paper hanging over my head since December. It needs to go away. I am officially on Spring break right now and my primary task over break is to finish the paper. At this point I almost don't care how bad the paper turns out to be. It needs to go away!

Finally, I am impatient to get to sleep!

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

I find myself asking myself again what I am doing here. I almost don't care what the answer is because I want to be here and really think that this is where I am supposed to be no matter how dissatisfied I may be with the "official" reason that I am here: school. I am not enjoying it at all right now, but I am so glad that I came out here for it. I may not have been here long, but it doesn't take long for a place to become part of who I am. My brief experience with my students over the past few weeks has reminded me of that. The way I think and the way I interact with people are things greatly influenced by my experiences with my culture and other cultures. A little part of me is from college in Santa Clarita. A little part of me is from my semester in Israel. A little part of me is from trips to Mexico and Panama and Costa Rica and Romania. A large part of me is from growing up in Whittier. A growing part of me is from living here in Binghamton. All of these parts make me a little bit emotionally torn, because each of these parts carry memories that are about people. They are family and friends with whom I have shared so much of my life. They are also strangers who crossed my life "like ships that pass in the night," but those ships have lights. I carry the words of strangers whose lights I saw years ago. There are chapel messages from college that I remember. I remember the message about Moses spending 40 years with the Midianites before God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, but I have no idea who spoke that day. I remember Francis Chan speaking in chapel a few times and sharing very memorable visual images of spiritual lessons. I take the memories of life in the dorms with me and could find my way from one of my rooms to the restroom in my sleep, but I cannot go back there. I relive moments on foreign shores in my mind, precious memories that leave me with bittersweet emotions, but I cannot go back there. I cannot even really go back to where I lived just months ago although it is the place I know best filled with the people I know best. I have left these things behind in my chronological past, yet they are still ever present with me because they are part of who I am. It is a paradox of life experience. Yet all of these parts of me do not compose the whole of me. There is more that transcends experience. I may ask myself who I might be if I had never left my parents' home for college, missions trips or graduate school, but I cannot answer that question. I cannot measure the influence that my specific experiences have on me, my worldview and my identity. I remember my grandmother, recently confined to a nursing home, and her failing memory. When my memories are gone, what will be left of me? I would rather not find out. As for now, I am here. Here, as with other places, what makes me want to stay are the people. I have blossoming relationships with some people and see so many potential friends all around me, especially at church. Memory doesn't make me fond of this place because I have not left it behind. It is the hope of many memories yet to be created that makes me want to stay. This part of me is still a work in progress!

Say what?

Today's word comes from the "you learn something new everyday" files and www.m-w.com...
Prosopography
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin prosopographia, from Greek prosOpon person + -graphia -graphy: a study that identifies and relates a group of persons or characters within a particular historical or literary context
(Prosopography as a historical method is associated with Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier, a Polish-born English historian. It came up in my class on the American Revolution today and none of the students had any idea what the word meant. It is a rather unusual and thus noteworthy word, not to mention the fact that it is rather amusing to say! If I come away from that class with nothing else, at least I now know what prosopography means...)

As an update to an earlier post, I think I officially enjoy wensleydale cheese!

Mexican food?

Today's culinary experiment: The whatever-I-have-in-the-fridge burrito (refried beans, onion, ham, cheese, sour cream, tortilla)
Inspiration: Hunger
Assessment: Definitely works well for a quick meal! I forgot that I recently purchased Mexican seasoning. The seasoning would have made it that much better. I also considered adding some tomato, which probably would have just added flavor. If I ate a little bit more slowly I might be able to assess it better, but it was good enough for me!

Speaking of Mexican food, time to pull out yet another quiz! I don't know how accurate the results are, but since I love Mexican food (and my own inauthentic versions of it), I thought I'd post it anyway.

You Are Mexican Food

Spicy yet dependable. You pull punches, but people still love you.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Saturday Morning Post

Today I would like to write something deep and insightful that will leave all of my readers inspired. I, however, am completely lacking in deep and insightful material this morning and will instead post what is on my mind. :)
I finally finished my application materials for the Master of Arts in Teaching program. Good thing, since the application deadline is in eleven days!
I entertained dinner guests again last night. That was quite enjoyable. If you are inclined to follow directions for cooking things included on the label, I have a recommendation: don't believe everything you read. A 2.3 lb honey ham requires longer than 15 minutes per pound to heat in a 325 degree oven. My oven was on hotter than that and the ham was cold in the center after what theoretically was sufficient warming time. One of my guests was running late, so the ham (in slices this time) went back into the oven and came out warm by the time we ate. Otherwise I think the evening was a smashing success. I even washed some of the dishes last night before going to bed instead of saving them for a rainy day!
We had quite a bit of snow on Thursday, which means I had quite a bit of snow to remove from my car yesterday while standing in quite a bit of snow. It also means that class was cancelled on Thursday night. Poor me. :)
I am turning 25 in 26 days. This makes me happy. When my sister got married at the age of 27 I thought that was old and that it would be bad to be single for so long. As I get closer to it I realize that it's not that bad. It is okay to be in your mid twenties and still be single. I find that it is quite possible to be content with my situation in life. I am NOT in danger of becoming an old maid tomorrow...